More Brownie… Delicious Brownie…
Finally got around to developing another roll of shots from my Kodak Brownie Six-20 D. These shots where taken on Shanghai GP3 100 and developed in Kodak D-76 1:1.
Getting exposure right with a Brownie is not easy. First of all, there's no settings. You can't adjust anything on the camera, the only way you have any control over the exposure is by selecting the right film type. A couple of shots taken on overcast days seemed to not come out so great, so this is very much a sunny day type camera.
Still, it's great fun to use, and those amazing 6x9 negatives freak people out when they see the size.
Serious 6×6
There's something about the 6x6 format that feels more serious and professional than 35mm. This is strange, as a lot of fun toy cameras (the Holga and Diana for eg.) use this same format.
As you may have read a while back, I picked up some Shanghai GP3 film on the cheap recently. I've shot a few rolls, but my developer was dying fast, so I hadn't had the chance to develop them. This past weekend I was invited to Brisbane for drinks. Taking the opportunity I grabbed some developer while I was there.
This is the first time I've used Kodak's D-76 developer. Once it's mixed and ready to go though, it's just as easy as the liquid concentrate Ilford chemicals I had been using (LC29 and Ilfosol 3). Using D-76 in a 1:1 solution (1 part D-76, one part water) and developing for 14min (@ 20 degrees) with intermittent agitation, and there's the result.
I'm very happy with the results, and will surely be using this combination more. These two images were scanned in with my new scanner, and with minimal post processing (levels, no sharpening). There was a couple more shots that turned out OK, but these are the two I'm most happy with. Overall, my experience developing this roll was much better than it had been previously with medium format.
Shanghai GP3
After purchasing 10 rolls of Shanghai GP3 100 (120) on eBay, I knew it would be a while before I got to try it out. I have 3 cameras that will take this format, and only one of them has any control over aperture and shutter speed. The thing is, it doesn't have a built in light meter, so I don't use it as much as I should.
After finding my 5x4.5 mask that came with my Holga, I thought it would be a good opportunity to try out a new film and a new frame format. I usually use ISO 400 film in my Holga, so I was very worried about underexposure with ISO 100 film. I decided to push my film to at least 200 in processing. This was an issue however, because the only data I could find about developing with the chemicals I had (Ilfotech LC29) only had directions for ISO 100. Direction stated 6.5min @ 19 degrees (C). I took a stab in the dark, and developed for 9min.
At first I thought I had over done it, but a closer look when the film had dried revealed a far more embarrassing mistake. I had accidentally left the shutter switch on "Bulb" mode for some of the daylight shots. Anyone with a Holga has probably done the same themselves. The switch (at least on mine) doesn't "click" into place, it just slides across. This means I have to constantly check I haven't bumped it over while handling the camera.
The 4 or 5 shots that I had the switch in the correct position came out great though, and I'll definitely be using the 6x4.5 mask a lot more. I know I could jsut crop the 6x6 images after scanning them, but then I wouldn't get 16 shots on a roll instead of 12.
Search
Pages
Archives
Blogs
- alexluyckx.com | blog
- Anton's Photo Kitchen
- Dan Takes Photos
- Factory Takeover
- Michael Raso Film Photography Blog
- Middle Gray Studios
- Musings of a Photographic Idiot
- One Eye Open
- Sharkriverfilmsandphotography's Blog
- St Clair Photography
- Street Noise
- Thrillarama
- Urban Hafner Photography
- VERSUSNYC
- View From The North
Donate
